


After the Sun Rises

by HASA_Archivist



Category: The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Other - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-19
Updated: 2015-04-19
Packaged: 2018-03-24 17:31:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3777264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HASA_Archivist/pseuds/HASA_Archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(Non-Slash) Millennia have passed since the War of the Ring, and alone in Valinor, an elf laments those he has lost, wondering whether immortality is truly a blessing or a curse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	After the Sun Rises

**Author's Note:**

> Note from the HASA Transition Team: This story was originally archived at [HASA](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Henneth_Ann%C3%BBn_Story_Archive), which closed in February 2015. To preserve the archive, we began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in February 2015. We posted announcements about the move, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this author, please contact The HASA Transition Team using the e-mail address on the [HASA collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/hasa/profile).

**Summary: (Non-Slash) Millennia have passed since the War of the Ring, and alone in Valinor, an elf laments those he has lost, wondering whether immortality is truly a blessing or a curse.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters in this story, nor do I own the world in which it is set. The credit of owning those goes to the one and only J.R.R. Tolkien. Note that there are no original characters brought into this story at any point. Also note that I claim no financial profit whatsoever from writing this short story.**

* * *

Sorrow weighed down upon my heart as slowly I pushed aside the branches that blocked my way. Had I been going anywhere but here, I would have been leaping from treetop to treetop as always I had been made to do.

But today was no ordinary day.

Today, my feet stepped upon the ground, my tread intentionally heavier than any of the Eldar's should be. I could hear them, my steps, digging into the earth as they did only when I came to this one place, for this one purpose.

I thought back to the days of long age, when the sound of my companions' heavier footfalls would reach my ears. I would have laughed at their lumbering walk then, telling them- as a joke between friends- of how they should have been born as one of my kind, to have the ability to walk as light as I, in a mock boastful voice.

Now, I stood wishing they had indeed been born as one of my kind. Or I as one of theirs.

I pushed aside the last few branches and entered the clearing.

_Sam. Frodo. Gimli._

As they did every year, they stood proud to greet me. Slowly, I walked over to the four stones all rising out of the ground, one each for the three Ringbearers and the last for the Dwarf that had grown to become my greatest friend and companion.

I lowered myself onto my knees in front of them, my mind lost in memories. Every year, I would come here, visit them, my heart pining to behold each of their faces once again, to have another moment with them all to tell them what they meant to me- as friends, as companions, and as brothers in all but blood.

And I would curse myself for not thanking them when I could have done so.

I knelt there, unwilling, unable to move. The memories that I tried to keep locked away in a distant corner of my mind and heart- the memories that I always dreaded reliving in fear of the grief and the despair that would come afterwards- washed over me, all but overwhelming me. My eyes closed upon the world, and I felt the tears against the back of my eyelids.

Frodo as we climbed up into the _telain_ of Lothlórien. Sam as he spoke quietly to his faithful horse. My two faithful companions, one a Man and the other a Dwarf, as we ran across the plains of Horselords- we, the Three Hunters.

And there the memories did not stop. They kept coming, pouring through despite my feeble resistance, forcing me to remember. So clear were they that I felt as though they had happened but a few days ago.

There I stayed, though I know not how long. So lost within myself was I that I did not hear him approach, though his footsteps were as loud as mine had been when first I arrived.

"Legolas,"

I winced inwardly at the sound of the name that I had been known by once. Not what my kin here called me. Not Laiqualassë. Legolas.

"Mithrandir," I replied, abandoning my practice of calling him Olórin. In my heart, I could feel the way his thoughts and feelings mirrored mine so closely.

Mithrandir moved his eyes from my back, which I knew they were upon. I had not even opened my eyes to gaze upon him yet, so drowned was I in my own grief. Slowly, I forced my eyes to open, and still they were moist with the tears from before, none of which had yet escaped down my face.

"Do not grieve so, _mellon nin_ , for they have reached the great places beyond. It is we who are trapped upon this world till the end of time, and perhaps beyond,"

He spoke not in Quenya. His voice formed the words of the Common Tongue, and of Sindarin. So long had it been since such a sound reached my ears.

_It is we who are trapped upon this world till the end of time, and perhaps beyond._

The very thought of being separated from those who were my brothers and sisters- in all but blood- for an eternity was too much for me to bear. Finally, I broke. The tears, held back for so long, made their way down my face.

Once again, the memories came.

This time, my thoughts were of the time of peace after the war- of Faramir and of fair Éowyn, whom I grew to love as I loved Aragorn and Arwen. My brothers, they became, and my sisters, and we would wander through the woods of Ithilien, talking and laughing of times past and times yet to come. Even then, in my heart a shadow used to grow as we talked of the future, for I knew that mine would not be intertwined with theirs for long.

Yet great was my love for them, and my heart's will to protect them, for I still dwelt with them without retreating into the depths of the forests where nothing would ever change, and where I would be surrounded by only my own kind.

Now, I knelt wishing that I had indeed done so, for the pain would be less, far less. I would certainly remember them, and despair for their fates, but never would I have wept for my own in this way, wishing that I had been born a mortal.

For how long I knelt there, I know not. Moments it could have been, as well as it could have been centuries. But there I stayed, and there Gandalf stayed with me, and we payed tribute to those great heroes that had now defeated the greatest challenge of life: death, or so an elf would think.

My tears had stopped. Silently, I stood up, willing the grace of the Eldar to become mine again. I raised my hand at the graves, as though in farewell, and turned my back upon them.

I then leapt through the trees to escape the small wood, for the heavy tread I used to arrive was one that I walked in only for that purpose. Mithrandir followed me to the edge of the trees, where we both stood, gazing back into the depths of the forest where we knew our family lay, beyond the troubles of this world.

Though my heart was heavy, I knew then that had I miraculously been given a chance to relive those years in any other way, I would not have done it. Had I somehow been given a chance to not meet those mortals at all, to never feel such sorrow, I would have turned away from the very thought.

* * *

_telain  
_ The wooden platforms in which the Galadhrim, the people of Lothlórien, dwelt

_mellon nin  
_ 'my friend' in Sindarin

* * *

**

I tried as hard as I possibly could to incorporate Tolkien's writing style into this, to at least try and remain faithful. Now, I'd like to thank my reviewers, who have helped me improve this story and deemed it worthy of being on this site.

**

**Please do try to take the time to comment, even if it's just a few short words. I have developed a Reviewers' Guide, which you can use for the guidelines of your review, if you'd like:**  
-Did Legolas' grief come across clearly?  
-Did you come across any spelling/grammatical errors or syntax?  
-Was the writing style easy to understand?  
-Was there anything I could have done better?

**Thank you for reading, and I hope the Reviewers' Guide proves useful to you.**

**-Maethril**

* * *


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